Marble raceway game



United States Patent 3,451,678 MARBLE RACEWAY GAME John F. Gehrts, 1511 Hawthorne St., Forest Grove, Oreg. 97116 Filed June 24, 1966, Ser. No. 560,336 Int. 'Cl. A63f 9/14 U.S. 'Cl. 273-86 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A marble raceway game having an inclined ramp with runways leading into horizontal curved runways at the front end of the device. The curved runways discharge into a rearward end of the device having an extended portion leading laterally to a rearwardly extending discharge chute which discharges the marbles one at a time.

My invention is directed toward a game of the gravity runway type.

It is an object of my invention to provide a new and improved game wherein a plurality of marbles are caused to race down along straight inclined runways into horizontal circular runways, the first marble to pass through its corresponding circular runway being the winning marble.

Another object is to provide a new and improved marble raceway game of the character indicated wherein play money, betting tickets and a betting board is also used whereby the players can place simulated bets on the outcome of each race.

Still another object is to provide a new and improved game of the character indicated which can be manufactured easily and inexpensively.

All of the foregoing and still further objects and advantages of my invention will now be explained with reference both to this specification and to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top view of marble racing apparatus as used in my game;

FIG. 2 is a side view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a view through 3-3 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a betting board used in my game.

Referring now to FIGS. 1-3, there is shown a flat horizontal board or playing field base member having a central rectangular section having front and rear end semicircular sections 12, these sections 12 being oppositely disposed and secured to and integral with the opposite elongated sides of the central section. The board has a peripheral vertical wall 30. The front end section 12 has a plurality of spaced apart concentrically disposed vertical semicircular rails 14 dividing this section into a plurality of semicircular runways 16. Each runway has a front or inlet end 18 and a rear or outlet end 20.

An inclined board 22 is provided with a plurality of spaced apart vertical straight rails 24 dividing the board into a like plurality of inclined runways 26, the bottom of each inclined runway connecting directly to the front end of a corresponding semicircular runway 16. Inclined oppositely disposed supports 28 hold the board in position.

The rear end section 12 continues its curvature in a laterally and forwardly angled direction under the inclined board 22 and leads to a rearwardly extending and rearwardly inclined discharge chute 46.

A gate member 34 positioned on top of the top ends of the inclined runways carries a like plurality of differently colored marbles 36, each aligned with a corresponding runway. A manually removable pin 38 detachably securable to member 34 holds same in position sealing off the inclined runways. When the pin is removed, spring 40 secured between the top edge of the inclined support 28 and the gate member pulls same upward, causing the member to discharge all marbles simultaneously to the corresponding inclined runways. The marbles race downward therealong into the corresponding semicircular runways and are discharbed therethrough. They then circle around the board and are discharged through inclined discharge chute 46.

There are nine runways each bearing a different number from one to nine.

As shown in FIG. 4, there is shown a betting board 42 ruled into rows and columns. Each column bears a different designation, i.e. Win, Place, Show or Quinilla. The left hand end of each row bears a different number from one to nine. The Win, Place and Show columns each have correspondingly numbered sections. Each Quinilla position bears a different pair of two numbers ranging from one to nine.

A plurality of betting tickets, such as fifty each of $2, $4, $6, $8 and $12 tickets, may be used with the game and suitably contained in a box called a bank. Such betting tickets and holder are not shown.

Each player is given twenty $2. tickets to start. Before the start of each race, each player bets by placing a ticket on one of the squares on the betting board. When he bets he takes a $2 ticket and puts it on the betting board on the number that he wants to bet on. For example, if he picks No. 5 to win he takes one of his $2 tickets and puts it on No. 5 in the Win column. Then you pull the pin that locks the chutes and the race is off. Then if No. 5 comes to the winning spot first it wins. Then you take the $2 from the betting board and put it in the bank and take one $8 ticket out of the bank and put on your pile that is your winnings.

Then if you want to bet on Place you take one $2 ticket say if you pick No. 2 then put your $2 ticket on No. 2 in the Place column and then you start the race and if No. 2 comes in first or second it wins. Then again you take the $2 ticket from the Betting Board and put it in the bank and take one $6 ticket from the bank and put on your pile as winnings. If the number 2 does not come in first or second then you take the $2 ticket from the betting board and put it in the bank and take out nothing, for you lost, and now if you want to bet on Show you take one of your $2 tickets and say if you pick No. 7 you put your $2 ticket on No. 7 in the Show column, and then start the race again, and if No. 7 comes in first, second or third you take the $2 ticket from the betting board and put it in the bank and take one $4 ticket out of the bank and put it on your pile as winnings. But if it does not come in first, second or third you take the $2 ticket from the betting board and put it in the bank and take nothing out of the bank as you lost, and if you want to bet on a Quinilla you pick two numbers, for example, if you pick 1 and 9 you take one of your $2 tickets and put it on the betting board on 1-9 in the Quinilla column, then start the race and if 1 comes in first and 9 comes in second or if 9 comes in first and 1 comes in second you take the $2 ticket and put it in the bank and take out one $12 ticket and put it in your pile as winnings. But if either one 1 or 9 do not come in in first or second you take the $2 ticket from the betting board and put it in the bank and take nothing out of the bank as you lost and the game is to run 10 races then figure up your winnings. You started out with $2 tickets and for example if you have 5 $2 tickets left and they are Worth $2 each you have $10 left and your 20 $2 tickets are worth $40 so you bet and say if you have one $8 winning ticket and a $4 winning ticket then your winnings would be $12 and you bet $30; therefore you would have lost $18, and the winner would be whoever won the most or whoever lost the least, if all players had no winnings.

While I have described my invention with particular reference to the drawings, my protection is to be limited only by the terms of the claims which follow.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire 'to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A marble raceway game comprising:

(a) a horizontal base member,

(b) said horizontal base member having front and rear end sections,

(c) a plurality of equally spaced apart parallel runways in said front end section only,

((1) said runways having a semi-circular curvature and having an inlet on one side of the base member and an outlet on the other side,

(e) the rear end section of said base member being defined by curved end Walls and having an extended portion leading laterally to one side of the base member,

(f) said extended portion having an outlet,

(g) a rearwardly leading discharge chute communicating with the outlet of said extended portion,

(h) a tarting ramp above said extended portion leading from the rearward portion of said base member to said front end section and being inclined downwardly toward the front,

(i) and a plurality of runways in said ramp leading into corresponding inlets of the runways in said front end section,

(j) whereby marbles are arranged to be raced down the ramp in respective runways, around the curved runways in said front end section, around the curved rear end section, and out the lateral extended portion of said rear end section to said discharge chute.

2. The marble raceway game of claim 1 including in combination therewith a betting board having marked areas thereon for placing bets on marbles used in said raceway game.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,449,565 3/1923 Vogel 273-20 1,593,146 7/1926 Staker et a1. 1,662,162 3/1928 Nestor 273-86 2,070,605 2/1937 Leighton 27386 X 2,726,868 12/1955 Schulte 27286 RICHARD V. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner.

THOMAS ZACK, Assistant Examiner.

Us. 01. X.R. 4643 

